Mark Frederick Tross
This has absolutely nothing to do with being Pentecostal, although there would be no church in (not of) this world without Pentecost. The Nation of Israel has called this Biblical Holy-Day ‘Shavuot,’ which celebrates God’s giving of The Law or The Torah (representing the first five books of The Bible) to Moses.
Most reading this article have probably seen The Ten Commandments movie, staring Charlton Heston, as Moses, but when did this event actually occur?
According to God’s timing (and timing is everything), the Jewish or biblical calendar, in 2016, Shavuot takes place on Sunday, June 12. How can this be possible? If a Jew and a Gentile made an appointment to meet on Pentecost Sunday this year, at such and such a time, even in Jerusalem, it would appear that either the Gentile would be a month early or the Jew would be a month late.
Surely you’re all familiar with the Chinese New Year or other ethnic holidays that don’t necessarily fall in line with the rest of the worlds calendar. Perhaps you know someone who is Greek Orthodox and celebrates Christmas in January. Why the discrepancies? The Bible clearly talks about times and seasons, in many cases even giving exact days of the month for certain biblical feasts to take place. God’s original calendar, His times and seasons are still in effect, but over time, first Julius Caesar and then Pope Gregory changed God’s days, months and years, to either the worlds or the churches system, which certainly doesn’t always match up with His perfect will and timing.
The Apostle Paul tells us not to argue over days, times to worship or even what foods to eat, be it Kosher or not, meats or veggies, but when it comes to God’s appointed times and seasons, true believers must have the wisdom, knowledge and understanding to discern the times in which we live, so let us not just be Jew or Gentile, but ‘biblical.’ In the Book of Acts, while on one of his missionary journeys, Paul wanted to get back to Jerusalem in time to celebrate Shavuot/Pentecost. Looking at our calendar today, was he traveling in May or June of that year? We certainly can all agree that the world mostly doesn’t care one way or another about God’s plan, but the church, Jew & Gentile, one in Messiah (Hebrew), Christ (Greek), The Anointed One (English), by faith, should want to do things right, the way God tells us to, when He tells us to and how He tells us to, so let’s reconsider what we think we know and strive to be doers of The Word, God’s way.
Have a Happy & Blessed Pentecost/Shavuot!